Posts from ‘Gamma’ Category

By: Alehkhs

On: July 1st, 2011

No Fun Games’ one-button RTS, Pax Britannica, has been ported to Android. This port supports 2-player battles on the same device, or against an AI player if you’re by yourself. Like it’s computer (Win/Mac/Linux) counterpart, Pax Britannica for Android sports beautiful pixel graphics and easy-to-learn gameplay, as well as a price tag of ‘free.’

By: Derek Yu

On: April 16th, 2010

Honeyslug just released Poto & Cabenga, their browser-based one-switch game that was made for the Gamma IV party (and was chosen to be displayed there). You control both Poto and Cabenga with one button, and the way it’s done is pretty nifty… definitely a bit of a mind-bender at first, though. I like the art style!

By: Derek Yu

On: March 17th, 2010

Gamma IV marked a nice interlude at the midpoint of GDC (following the Independent Games Summit). I’ve never been before, but I left feeling more than ever that games are work great for shows, galleries, and parties when they’re created for those spaces. Here are the six games that won the chance to be in the show:

4Fourths – That’s got to be the sickest trailer for a game ever (by John Likens). Anyway, Mike and Greg’s 4Fourths is a 4-player game where teams of two cooperate to destroy nukes before they fall onto a city. In each team, one person controls the thrusters and one person controls the laser. You can also shoot the other team, which is easy to do accidentally or on purpose. Great fun, and it looked fantastic projected big.

Faraway – Far and away (h’yuk) the game I played most at Gamma IV, Faraway is an addictive highscore game from Steph Thirion, who created Eliss for the iPhone. Like Eliss, Faraway has a great minimalistic audio-visual design. The game, which has you playing a comet trying to make constellations, requires a lot of skill and practice. You can be seriously good at this game, as was evidenced by Colin Northway’s “constellation domination” throughout the conference. I wish I was playing it right now!

Poto & Cabenga – There’s no video for Honeyslug‘s Poto & Cabenga, unfortunately. In this game, you control both Poto & Cabenga at the same time, with one button. The way it’s handled is really clever (you can read about it in more detail here), and the character designs are great. I can’t wait until they release it on the internets.

B.U.T.T.O.N. – I had no clue what B.U.T.T.O.N. was about when I started playing, so I was holding a drink in one hand with the notion that I could play a one-button game with the other. Then the screen instructed all the players to do five push-ups. Thankfully, being me, I did twenty push-ups, finished my drink (whiskey and snake’s blood), and still won (sorry, there were no witnesses!). You can’t tell from the above video, but the game actually has pretty nice graphics! Fun party game.

GAMMA IV – The Game – IGF Nuovo Award Winner cactus released a really fun, trippy Gamma game, aptly titled Gamma IV – The Game. It was projected behind the DJ, which was a good idea. It will make you think of swastikas and then you will have a seizure.

Silent Skies – I didn’t get a chance to try Michael Todd’s Silent Skies, unfortunately. But I enjoyed watching the planes do loop de loops from afar.

None of these games are playable as of writing, but a lot of the games that didn’t make it are. There were around 150 entries this year, so plenty of great ones didn’t make the cut. You can check them out at the Gamma IV forums.

By: Derek Yu

On: December 2nd, 2009

Kokoromi Collective has announced that Gamma 4 will be a part of next year’s GDC in March. The theme is “one-button games” and entries must only use a single button on the Xbox 360 controller. Windows and Mac OSX games are both accepted. The submission deadline is January 31st.

Also, it’s not related to Kokoromi or Gamma, but OneSwitch.org is a website dedicated to single-button games and interfaces designed for the physically-handicapped.

By: Brandon McCartin (BMcC)

On: September 14th, 2009

You may have already heard this news, but I think it’s prudent to post it again: The fourth iteration of the previously Montreal-based indie game exposition / dance party, Gamma, will now be held at this year’s GDC in San Francisco. While I’m sad to not have an excuse to take the train up to Montreal this year, I’m thrilled to see Gamma return bigger than ever.

By: Derek Yu

On: December 4th, 2008

Alec Holowka and his Infinite Ammo team video blogged their trip to the Montreal International Games Summit, which went on like a week or so ago. Five videos long, there’s really only one word to describe the journey: EPIC. It’s probably worth it just to see Jon Blow get his boogie on to Soulja Boy, but the whole thing is just good, clean indie fun. Witness every possible method of high-fiving known to humankind.

Also, be sure to try out IA’s Paper Moon, which was featured at GAMMA 3D and is now available for download.